Role of HEART score in prediction of coronary artery disease and major adverse cardiac events in patients presenting with chest pain

Abstract

Introduction. Chest pain (CP) diagnostics accuracy remains debatable for both general practitioners (GP) or emergency department (ED) physicians for patients in HEART score (HS) low- and intermediate-risk groups which prompted us to review our electronic database for all patients admitted via our center’s ED during 2014 to 2020 for CP and suspect acute coronary syndrome. Methods. Patients were divided in function of low- or intermediate-risk HS and assessed during a three month follow up for angiogram results, major adverse cardiac events (MACE), lab results and echo parameters. Results. Of 585 patients included, low-risk HS group (21,4%, 36% were women) had significant coronary disease on angiogram in 68%, while for intermediate-risk HS group (78.6%, with 32.6% women) it was for 18.4% of patients (p < 0,0005). Area under the ROC curve of HS in detecting patients with ischemic heart disease as a cause of CP was 0.771 (95% CI: 0.772–0.820) with best cut-off point HS was calculated at 3.5. Sensitivity and specificity were 89.2% and 57.6% respectively. Adjusting for sex, lab results and HS, AUROC curve of this model was 0.828 (95% CI: 0.786–0.869; p < 0,0005) with cut-off of 77.95. Sensitivity and specificity were 84.9% and 68% respectively. In the three-month follow-up post-discharge, there was a significant difference in MACE between groups (low- vs. intermediate-risk HS was 3.4 vs. 16.7% p < 0.05). Conclusion. HS for our CP patients admitted via our ED by GP and ED physicians’ referral, provides a quick and reliable prediction of ischemic heart disease and MACE.

Keywords

• chest pain
• heart score
• mace
• general practitioner